It’s a good thing fourth-grader Carter Langston has a good memory—and a good nose.
SEMCO Energy and Gas contracts with the National Energy Foundation to provide energy waste-reduction educational programs in schools, including a “scratch and sniff” sample of mercaptan, the product added to natural gas to give it that familiar rotten-egg smell.
Carter was one of the students at Andrews Elementary School in Three Rivers, Michigan, who attended a presentation.
About a month later, as Carter and his parents were helping their local church move, the boy told adults that he smelled natural gas—the same rotten-egg smell as on his “scratch and sniff” card—as he was taking out trash. At first they didn’t believe him, but Carter insisted that they call the gas company.
Turns out Carter was right—and his heroic efforts and don’t-quit attitude saved the church and earned him high-fives from all the adults who had doubted him, Three Rivers Commercial-News reported.
“This story is a great example of the effectiveness of the program and the importance of presenting the program to people of all ages,” Tim Lubbers, SEMCO’s director of business development, told American Gas. “This is a win all the way around.” — Carolyn Kimmel